Psystar Ships First 'Service Pack'

InformationWeek's Paul McDougall reports:

"Not only is systems integrator Psystar continuing to defy Apple's
no-cloning rule by selling Leopard-based knockoffs, it's now supporting
the machines with a service pack that includes multiple bug fixes -
some of which address problems inherent in Apple's software.

"'Safe updates, as well as bug fixes and workarounds, are now
available,' Psystar said in a note Monday on its Web site."

Psystar Offers 13 Software Updates

The Apple Core's Jason D.
O'Grady says:

"Yesterday, Mac cloner announced a series of Software Updates for
their Open Computer:

"Safe updates, as well as bug fixes and workarounds, are now
available in our Support section. We have released a couple of fixes
for things like Time Machine as well as a fix for DHCP issues that some
customers are having. Computers shipped as of today have all updates
available preinstalled with Leopard. Please check our website regularly
as we will begin releasing safe updates through the operating system's
Automatic Updates and will require all of our existing users to
download a small update manually and install it to enable this
functionality."

Apple Rules Retail in Over $1,000 Range

MacUser's Dan
Moren reports:

"It's long been argued that Macs are the luxury cars of the PC
market: they might cost a little more, but you're paying that premium
for something that's better put together and has higher performance
than the bargain bin options. And while we all know that the Mac has
been achieving huge growth in the past few years, Apple's overall
market share tends to remain on the low side.

"Unsurprisingly, their retail share (read: brick-and-mortar stores)
is a little higher, at 14% for the first quarter of 2008. But what if
we slice out those bargain bin computers favored by so many (including
most businesses)? eWeek did just that with
numbers from NPD Group and found something rather
interesting...."

Apple's Market Share of PCs over $1,000 Hits
66%

Apple 2.0's
Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports:

"Here's a new way to slice Apple's growing share of the computer
market.

"Last March, the NPD Group reported that Apple's retail market share
- its cut of the computers sold in brick-and-mortar stores - had
climbed to 14%, a figure that's roughly double its overall share of the
U.S. market and reflects the power of the Apple Store to draw customers
and move product.

"What NPD didn't report at the time was the huge growth in Apple's
share of the so-called 'premium' computer market - machines that cost
more than $1,000....

"Apple's share of the $1,000-plus retail market was less than 18% in
January 2006 according to NPD. By September 2007, it had grown to more
than 57%. And in the first quarter of 2008 it hit a record 66%."

Avoid the Potholes When Switching from Windows to
Mac

David
Alison says:

"Thinking about switching from Windows to Mac? Got a shiny new Mac
and you want to learn the ropes quickly after spending years on
Windows? Got a friend that just converted and they say the Mac doesn't
work like Windows? This quick guide should help overcome the most
common problems new switchers encounter."

Puncturing Common Myths About the Macintosh

David
Alison says:

"There are lots of reasons that people don't want to switch from
Windows to Macintosh. I assume the most common reason is simply because
Windows works for the people that are using it. The old adage 'If it
ain't broke don't fix it' tends to apply here. These people are not
upgrading to Vista either, they're staying with Windows XP or even
Windows 98 and are just fine.

"There are however an increasing number of people that are moving to
Macs now - many of them people like me that hated Macs at one time. I
believe there are lots of reasons for this, not the least of which is
that people that are running Windows XP are faced with an upgrade to
Vista as their next logical step and feel that maybe it's okay to
consider a Mac since they have to go through a full operating system
refresh anyway.

"One of the reasons I was not interested in Macs for a very long
time was that I clung to many facts about the Mac that I felt
eliminated it from contention. Well, as with many things in life it
turns out the facts that I knew about the Mac were either hopelessly
outdated or simply myths. What I wanted to do was tell you the ones
that I was aware of and often cited when I dismissed Macs in the
past....

Macs only use a single mouse button

There are not that many applications for Macs

Macs are closed machines that cannot be expanded

Macs don't work well with Windows machines on a network

Macs are more expensive

Macs can't run my Windows software

Macs are mouse centered machines. You constantly have to grab the
mouse."

Create Good Queries in Spotlight

Macworld's
Kirk McElhearn says:

"On the surface, searching with Spotlight is pretty straightforward.
In our previous installment, we covered the basics of using and
customizing the Spotlight menu. But if your search involves multiple
terms, or if you need to narrow down your results to dig up a
particularly elusive file, knowing how to put together a good search
query will pay off. By mastering a few simple tricks, you can limit
your search to specific types of data, exclude terms, and more -
helping Spotlight locate exactly what you need. and then take you
inside some of its lesser know features - including how to use keywords
to limit your search to specific dates, authors, or file types."

Google's Mac Efforts Begin to Bear Fruit

"Amit Singh thought something was missing from OS X. The Google
engineer - and author of Mac OS X Internals - took a look
at what the Mac operating system didn't have that Linux and Solaris
did.

"'One thing stood out,' Singh said. 'There was no easy way to do
file systems.' So Singh decided to create one, even though he worked
for Google's search team at the time and wasn't part of the company's
Mac development efforts.

"The reaction of his bosses to this use of company time? Go for
it.

"Singh's project, which became the open-source file-system utility
MacFUSE, is just one of the many employee-driven efforts that go on
within the walls of the search-engine and text-advertising giant all
the time. Google calls it '20-percent time,' encouraging its engineers
to pursue other Google-related interests for up to 20 percent of their
work hours - even if that interest has little to do with their regular
duties at the search and software company....

"Many 20-percent projects have wound up becoming major Google
products: both Google News and Gmail, for instance, started that way.
Among the Mac-specific efforts that began as 20-percent projects are
Notifier, which offers Gmail and Google Calendar notifications, and the
Google Mac Developer Playground, an online collection of open-source
Mac projects created at Google."

Eject Stubborn Disk Images via
AppleScript

Mac OS X Hints
contributor RickoKid says:

"Leopard sometimes can be a little reluctant to eject disks and disk
images in the Finder. It doesn't matter if you click the Eject button
in the Finder's sidebar, drag the disk to the Trash, or right-click and
choose Eject, the Finder just silently ignores you. You can open Disk
Utilty though and eject it fine that way (unless there are files open
on the image, of course). This AppleScript will eject those troublesome
disks...."

When Leopard Can't Eject an External
Drive

MacFixIt
says:

"Several users have experienced an issue in which an attached
FireWire or USB drive will not eject. Instead, an error message pops up
claiming the drive cannot be ejected because it is in use. This may
occur with hard drives, flash drives, or any other storage
system...."

Muffling Noisy Optical Drives

MacFixIt
says:

"Various Macs' DVD drive can get exceptionally loud, especially when
playing movies, even though it sounds like the fans and parts of the
DVD drive are working normally (no odd clanking or buzzing noises).
This problem appeared on some of the first PowerMac G5 and Mac Pro
units (running Pioneer DVR-106 through DVR-111D drives), and seems to
have persisted through to more recent systems running updated Pioneer
DVR-112 drives."

Products

Fedora Core 6 Linux Distro Supports Intel
Macs

OS News'
Philipp Esselbach reports:

"The Fedora Project announces the third and final test release of
the Fedora Core 6 development cycle, available for the i386, x86_64,
and ppc/ppc64 architectures, including Intel based Macintosh
computers."

Take Control of Apple Mail and Spam - 2 New
PDFs from TidBITS

PR: Mail 3, the free email client that Apple ships with Mac
OS X 10.5 Leopard, is full-featured and popular. However, once users
need to go beyond the basics, many fail to use it effectively due to
minimal documentation and interface confusion. Help is now at hand in
the form of a pair of electronic books from email expert Joe Kissell:
the brand new Take Control of Apple Mail in Leopard, and the newly
updated Take
Control of Spam in Apple Mail. Both titles sell for $10 separately,
or they may be purchased together for $15 at: http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/leopard-apple-mail.html.

Take Control of Apple Mail in Leopard looks carefully at how to set
up different kinds of email accounts and where email from various
accounts is stored, plus what to do if Mail can't successfully send or
receive mail. After covering account setup, the ebook thoroughly covers
the ins and outs of addressing, composing, and sending email. And, it
helps readers get organized so they can read their most important
messages first, plus find old messages easily. Plus, it examines making
Time Machine backups of email, Address Book integration, Notes and
To-Do items, archiving messages, rules, basic spam management, and
more.

Questions answered in the book include:

What are the most important changes in Leopard Mail?

How can I read my email on more than one computer?

How do I use Mail as an RSS reader?

I attached a note to an email message, but where did it go?

Are there third-party tools that extend Mail's capabilities?

Take Control of Spam with Apple Mail covers everything an Apple Mail
user might need to know about zapping spam. After providing readers
with basic background on types of spam and how spammers perform their
annoying tricks, the ebook gives readers advice and specific steps for
maximizing how Apple Mail filters out spam. And, if a reader follows
all those steps and still has too much spam, the ebook takes it to the
next level with a detailed look at third-party software designed to
help Mail users eliminate spam. The ebook also includes a coupon for $5
off SpamSieve, the author's top pick for a third-party spam fighting
utility.

Questions answered in the book include:

How can I optimize Mail's junk mail filter?

What's a Bayesian filter?

How should I handle fraudulent or malicious messages?

How can I fine-tune my Previous Recipients list to help zap
spam?

What third-party utilities work best to help Mail better filter out
my spam?

Take Control editor in chief Tonya Engst said, "Whether you're just
getting started with Mail or you want to tune your Mail know-how so you
can take it to the next level, these ebooks have a lot to offer. I just
switched from Eudora to Mail, and I found Joe's advice to be extremely
valuable."

Joe Kissell has written numerous books about the Macintosh,
including many popular Take Control ebooks. He's also Senior Editor of
TidBITS, contributes frequently to Macworld, and previously spent ten
years in the Mac software industry. Joe Kissell joined the TidBITS
staff in 2006 as Senior Editor and currently lives in Paris. He has
written more than a dozen Take Control ebooks, including the
best-selling Take
Control of Mac OS X Backups. He's also the author of numerous print books about Mac
OS X and a frequent contributor to Macworld magazine. Joe runs a
business called alt concepts, which publishes such Web sites as
Interesting Thing of the Day and Truffles for Breakfast.